MPA Tribute to Pharmacy Heroes |
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Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA) thanks pharmacy heroes across Michigan for their courage and dedication during the COVID-19 pandemic. This tribute was debuted at MPA's virtual Annual Convention & Exposition (ACE) Feb. 26-27, 2021. |
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Mass Vaccination Site Planned for Detroit |
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Detroit Ford Field will become a mass vaccination site, administering 6,000 COVID-19 vaccines per day. The site will run for eight weeks starting March 24. This allocation is in addition to the state's regular vaccine supply.
The Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA) is closely monitoring details as they unfold. More information will be issued regarding the registration process as it is received.
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State Expanding Access to COVID-19 Vaccine
Adults with pre-existing conditions eligible March 22; other adults eligible April 5
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To continue progress toward the state’s goal of vaccinating 70 percent of Michiganders over age 16 and bringing a quicker end to the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) officials today announced the state is expanding vaccination eligibility for Michiganders ages 16 and older with disabilities or medical conditions that put them at high risk of negative COVID-19 outcomes beginning Monday, March 22. The state is also announcing that beginning Monday, April 5, all Michiganders age 16 and up who were not previously eligible will be eligible to receive a vaccine, according to a press release today from the State Emergency Operations Center.
With the expanded vaccine eligibility, providers are still encouraged to schedule appointments and allocate vaccinations to residents based on highest risk, including older residents, essential workers and frontline workers. The most recent vaccine prioritization guidelines can be found on Michigan’s COVID-19 website.
This is in addition to a recent announcement that MDHHS was moving forward with vaccination of Michiganders age 50 and older with medical conditions or disabilities and caregiver family members and guardians who care for children with special healthcare needs as of Monday, March 8. Also beginning Monday, March 22, vaccine eligibility is expanding to include all Michiganders 50 and older.
All vaccine providers may begin vaccinating the new priority age group of 16-49 with medical conditions or disabilities by Monday, March 22. MDHHS is accelerating vaccination of these individuals due to concern around disparity in life expectancy and in an effort to remove barriers to vaccine access. Based on the anticipated amount of vaccines becoming available to the state and President Biden’s directive that all adults should be eligible by May 1, Michigan has decided to move forward with allowing all Michiganders who were not previously eligible to begin receiving vaccine on April 5. As providers are scheduling appointments, they should consider an individual’s risk of exposure due to their employment and their vulnerability to severe disease in determining how to schedule appointments. It is anticipated that it may still take several weeks beyond April 5 for everyone who wishes to receive a vaccine to have an appointment.
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Retired Pharmacists, Student Pharmacists, Other Health Professionals Eligible to Provide COVID-19 Vaccines |
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The U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has amended the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act after receiving feedback from pharmacy partners. These changes add recently retired pharmacists, inactive pharmacists and pharmacy interns to the list of healthcare professionals authorized to administer COVID-19 vaccinations.
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Retired and inactive pharmacists and pharmacy interns: Must have held license within the state in the last five years that was in good standing, without revocation or surrendering following an arrest, and must not be on the Officer of Inspector General’s List of Excluded Individuals/Entities.
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Student pharmacists/interns: Student pharmacists and interns may now be supervised by other qualified licensed healthcare professionals other than pharmacists.
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All other PREP Act vaccination and training requirements must be met.
The PREP Act provides liability immunity to the professionals it covers.
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CDC Releases Interim Guidance for Fully Vaccinated People |
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With the number of Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 at 31 million and climbing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wants the public to know what behaviors are acceptable or not acceptable after full immunization. Once two weeks have passed since receiving a single-dose vaccine or the second dose of a two-part vaccine, the regulator stipulates in its new guidelines, fully vaccinated people can gather with unvaccinated family and friends without using masks or observing social distancing.
However, prevention measures should be maintained in the event that unvaccinated participants at gatherings are at risk for severe COVID-19 or if there are unvaccinated members of multiple households present. In light of the many unknowns regarding COVID-19 and fully vaccinated people, CDC plans to revise its recommendations as vaccination coverage widens, disease dynamics for the United States evolve and new data emerge. Regardless of vaccination status, CDC encourages the general population to continue masking in public or in the presence of high-risk individuals, avoiding large get-togethers and putting off unnecessary travel.
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A monoclonal-antibody drug developed by Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline reduced hospitalizations or death from COVID-19 by 85 percent compared with a placebo in a clinical trial, the companies said. Vir and Glaxo will immediately ask regulators in the United States and other countries to authorize the therapy. If authorized, the drug would be the fourth antibody therapy available in the United States.
The companies say an independent monitoring committee recommended their study be halted early because an interim analysis of data from 583 study subjects indicated the drug, called VIR-7831, was effective. Hal Barron, Glaxo's chief scientific officer and president of research and development, said: "We look forward to the possibility of making VIR-7831 available to patients as soon as possible and to further exploring its potential in other settings."
Study volunteers will continue to be monitored for 24 weeks, and more data will be released after the study is finalized, the companies said. Vir and Glaxo said a separate study of VIR-7831 found that it remains effective against new coronavirus variants identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.
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Many community pharmacists report they are struggling financially after taking on the enormous burden of providing COVID-19 vaccines to the public. While the federal government foots the bill for the vaccine, the paperwork and extra man-hours that come with the responsibility of administering it is overwhelming for some. Trying to get a small measure of reimbursement for the work, they add, is equally exhausting.
Pharmacists worry these problems will deepen as vaccine eligibility widens and they service more customers with private health plans, as opposed to older adults on Medicare. Some groups say it is too soon to predict if problems will be compounded going forward, but they are keeping tabs on the situation. While potential complications have deterred some pharmacies from offering vaccinations, others have embraced it as an opportunity to make a difference. The numbers suggest that they have done so, with more than 40,000 pharmacies nationwide administering hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses to date.
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President Joe Biden says the newly passed American Rescue Plan will ramp up people's access to COVID-19 vaccines and that by May 1, the federal government will unveil an online vaccine finder to guide people to vaccination sites near them. By the same date, the administration will also launch a toll-free call center to help people who lack internet access locate a vaccine. More than 20,000 pharmacies will now administer vaccines as part of the federal government's pharmacy vaccine program, doubling the number of participants. In addition, the administration is more than doubling the number of federally operated mass vaccination sites, allowing vaccines to be administered to hundreds of thousands of people per day in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the military and other agencies. At least 4,000 additional active duty troops are to be deployed to help the effort.
Beginning Friday, a dramatically larger pool of people trained in injections will be eligible to administer vaccines, including dentists, medical students, midwives, optometrists, paramedics, podiatrists and veterinarians. For states that sponsor vaccine appointment websites, the administration will assign staff in technical support jobs to enhance the sites' performance. Over the coming six weeks, the Biden administration will send vaccines to up to 700 more community health centers, bringing the total number of those sites serving as vaccination centers to 950.
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The Ups and Downs of Demand for the COVID-19 Vaccine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula |
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More than a quarter of residents in Michigan’s Ontonagon County are vaccinated against COVID-19.
That makes it the county with the highest percentage of vaccinated residents in the state. Other counties in the U.P. are doing well too. About 20 percent of people in Iron County have received the vaccine and more than 15 percent of Gogebic County residents have been vaccinated.
MPA Past President Jessica Bessner, the Aspirus Regional Director of Pharmacy for the Upper Peninsula, said over half of community members in the 65 and older age group have been vaccinated against COVID-19. But because of issues with fluctuating supply, Aspirus still has a full docket of vaccine appointments.
“We are still working through our final lists of 65 plus patients and we’re trying to make sure those people get their appointments in,” Bessner said.
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